Senate Bill S8766

                                 
BILL NUMBER: S8766

SPONSOR: JACKSON
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the civil service law, in relation to authorizing the
removal of police officer candidates from an eligible list when such
candidate does not meet psychological fitness requirements or lacks good
moral character standards

 
PURPOSE:

This bill would allow the appointing authority (i.e., the Sheriff or
Police Chief) to request that the candidate be removed from the eligible
after failing the psychological assessment.

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section one amends section 58 of the civil service law and creates a new
subdivision, 1-a, that would allow for the appointing authority to
request the local civil service commissioner to remove a candidate if
they have failed the psychological fitness exam and do not meet the good
              

moral character standard.

Section two sets that this act shall take effect immediately.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

According to the New York Sheriffs' Association, the Professional Polic-
ing Act directed the Municipal Police Training Council to promulgate
regulations "prescribing height, weight, physical fitness and psycholog-
ical requirements for eligibility of persons for provisional or perma-
nent appointment in the competitive class of the civil service as police
officers of any county, city, town, village or police district as it
deems necessary and proper for the efficient performance of police
duties." Executive Law § 840(2). The requirement that police officer
candidates meet certain standards pertaining to psychological fitness
for the job was a new criteria added by this legislation, and not an
unwelcome one. Most Sheriffs already required applicants to undergo some
form of psychological screening prior to employment; these regulations
simply standardized a common practice.

But, the formal legal requirement that police officer candidates undergo
this testing has revitalized an old complaint. That being said, there is
nothing in the law or regulations that technically disqualifies a candi-
date who fails their psychological screening from eligibility for the
position. The result is that in many counties, if an individual who is
psychologically unfit to be a police officer scores high on the written
examination they remain on the eligible list, essentially rendering the
"rule of three" into the rule of two or one.

This is not what the legislature ever intended. This bill would empower
the appointing authority to compel the local civil service director to
remove such candidates from the eligible list, ensuring that police
chiefs and Sheriffs have the opportunity to select recruits from the
full pool of candidates contemplated by the law.

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

None

 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

None

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.